44 Chapter 44

Advancing toward the Royal City, Gabriel gazed back at Lira occasionally, watching her stand in the same place.

Before long, Lira disappeared from his view. She had done as much as she could. From now on, everything rested on his shoulders.

Gabriel tied the small bag he received around his waist before observing the beautiful city in the distance. A majestic golden dome appeared to be covering the city, which seemed even better the closer Gabriel got to the city.

His first test was passing through the barrier undetected. According to Lira, it should've been easier since his element wasn't the Element of Darkness that could be detected by the beautiful golden Barrier.

Even though Lira was confident in that assumption, Gabriel was still somewhat wary since he knew that his element did share some similarities with the element of Darkness. He pondered if he was going to be caught before he could even get inside.

Fortunately, he also had his gloves which he placed his hopes on since they hid the aura of his Element from being felt outside. He had decided that he was never going to remove the gloves as long as he was inside the city... At least not the right one.

After finding a suitable place where no one could spot him, he stopped near the pond.

He got down the horse, stretching his arms. Now was the time to decide on his new looks.

He remembered the way to use the ring of transformation that was told to him by Lambard. He did everything as instructed.

He closed his eyes after once again making sure that no one was there. He tried to visualize a person he wanted to look like. Since he didn't want to take a risk, he imagined a face that he had never seen before, so there was no risk of it matching with someone.

Gabriel's long hairs became slightly shorter, even changing their color to a beautiful shade of silver. His eyes also transformed, complimenting the color of his silver hair as his pupils became a lighter shade of silver.

He didn't want to leave any remnant of his old self in his new look, not taking any risk this time. To be sure, he made one last change, making his skin somewhat paler as if he came from the land of snow.

The transformation didn't take long either. The only time-consuming part of the transformation was imagining what he wanted to look like. Everything else was effortless and Swift.

After he finished his transformation, he moved closer to the pond, observing his reflection in the water.

Just as he had expected, the ring worked all too well. He looked completely unlike his old self and just like he had imagined. He was sure that no one could recognize him now.

He sat near the pond, cupped his hands, inserting them in the pond before splashing water on his face.

After washing his face, he got back on the horse.

****

There was only one path leading inside the royal city, and it was crowded at the moment. There were many carriages before Gabriel in the line, waiting to enter the city.

Most of these carriages were being used as a mode of transport by youngsters who wanted to join the Academy of Elements. In the last few days, thousands of youngsters have arrived in the holy city to take part in the entrance examination of the Royal Academy of Holy Elements from different parts of the nation.

Every youngster dreamed of becoming a powerful mage, and the first step on that journey was getting selected for the Academy of Elements. The poor wanted to join the Academy to become powerful, learn spells, and most importantly, so that they could receive some resources from the academy to strengthen themselves.

On the other hand, the rich didn't lack the resources. All they needed were the skills and the name of the Academy behind them.

If one could show their talent in the academy, they had a great chance of succeeding in life, and it held true for everyone since many eyes remained on the Academy its toppers throughout the years. Even many Head Priests were previously students in the Academy itself before they reached the high positions.

There appeared to be around thirty such carriages before Gabriel in the line, and each carriage was checked thoroughly by the guards before being allowed entry into the city, which was taking quite some time.

"It should take around two hours at this rate just to get inside." Gabriel made an assumption.

"Three hours." A calm voice fell in Gabriel's ears.

"Hmm?" Gabriel glanced back, noticing another young man who was traveling alone like him.

The crimson-haired man seemed to be in his early twenties, donning a beautiful silver robe on his back which didn't appear to be too expensive yet suited him very well. His beautiful violet pupils starkly contrasted his crimson hair, yet it seemed to suit him.

As Gabriel observed the young man behind him, the man also observed Gabriel.

Through Gabriel's attire, the man could feel that the young man before him was from a rich family, yet he didn't give any special attention to him. It was as if it didn't matter to him how rich Gabriel was or what his background was.

"Did you say something?" Gabriel inquired.

"Yeah. You were wrong about your assumption by an hour. It'll take at least three hours to get the queue clear."

"Maybe." Gabriel didn't argue with the young man behind him. He casually glanced at the mark on the back of the young man's hand, noticing the mark of the Element of Earth.

"So you're a Mage of Earth. Did you assume how long it would take after guessing how many people are before us or there was a logic behind that specific number?"

"It is just basic maths. It's not hard to guess the approximate number of people inside those carriages based on the extra weight. Most of these carriages are overloaded. From that it's easy to figure out an approximate number of people ahead of us, who will go through checking, and how much time it'll take in total before it's our turn."

"And how do you know the extra weight inside the carriage from back here?"

The man flashed his mark of earth. "I'm connected to the earth."

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It was only Gabriel who asked the man questions. The man, on the other hand, didn't ask anything. It was as if he didn't even want to attempt to get to know anyone. All he did was answer questions.

"If you're right, then it's going to be a long wait indeed." Gabriel got off his horse. Since it was such a long wait, he didn't feel like sitting on the horse for such an extended period for no reason.

"What is your name?" Gabriel asked another question.

The young man also got down the horse, still holding the reins of the horse to keep it in place.

"Alexai."

Once again, Alexai didn't ask any questions. He didn't even care to ask the name of Gabriel in return.

Despite not being asked, Gabriel introduced himself.  "I'm Karyk."

Since he was here undercover, he needed a new persona and a new name. For that, he selected the only choice he could think of... He selected the name of the first God of his element Karyk, bringing the name back to life once again.

Unfortunately, Alexai appeared to be completely uninterested. He simply nodded his head, ending the conversation.